For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales;

Very prescient.

Ri Weal, Palmerston North, New Zealand

From: Janet Rizvi (janetrizvi gmail.com)
Subject: argosy

Well, well, every day we learn something new. I always thought that argosy
had something to do with Jason and his ship the Argo which, Wikipedia tells
me, was named after its builder, Argus. Nothing to do with the Greek town
Argos, either.
I'm sure Wordsmith's careful research has given the correct derivation
for argosy; but might there not also be a bit of conflation?

Janet Rizvi, Gurgaon, India

Jason and his band of adventurers have given a word to the English
language, argonaut, but
there's no evidence that they are connected with the word argosy.

There was, however, an error in Monday's entry. The word founder
would be more precise instead of flounder in the sentence "Planes crash,
ships founder, and trains collide." (The word flounder might work
better in "Planes experience turbulence, ships flounder, and trains
run late.").

The word founder derives from Latin fundus (bottom) and among its
cousins are verbs 'to found' and 'to fund'. The word flounder itself
may be an alteration of founder (etymologists are not certain).
Language is a messy thing.

And while we are amending errors, the thought included with the
word sybarite was from
Samuel Butler the novelist, not Samuel Butler the poet. There
oughta be a law that no two authors can have the same name.
-Anu Garg

Ah, yes; "paladin"... A word I first heard during my early youth, when a
TV series called Have Gun, Will Travel
was popular on TV (1957-1963). The protagonist was a gentleman gunfighter
who was a consummate fighter, but would rather settle problems without
violence, if possible. His business card read:

Have Gun -- Will Travel
Wire Paladin
San Francisco

I never knew what the name of the main character (played by the well-known
Richard Boone) meant, until now.

Paladin is an everyday word for many people living in UK apartment blocks --
it refers to the large (1000 litre capacity) round, wheeled, steel bins
which receive the rubbish from the chutes.

Sue Lloyd-Williams, London, UK

From: Warren McLean (wmclean pnc.com.au)
Subject: Paladin

In my late 20s I grew a thick moustache and dressed in what I felt was
"snappy" gear. Among my outfits a black open neck shirt, black flairs and
white shoes. Dressed thus, and walking down the street to a luncheon meeting,
I heard a passing truckie scream out "Hey, Paladin, draw!" I whipped around,
pointed a cocked finger at the truck and the driver roared with laughter
as he drove off. Ah, memories of Richard Boone and "Have Gun, Will Travel"
(video).

Warren McLean, Leura, NSW, Australia

From: James Sanders (james.sanders lloydstsb.co.uk)
Subject: Damascene
Def: verb tr.: To inlay a metal object with gold or silver patterns; to gild; noun: A native or inhabitant of Damascus; adjective; Sudden and significant.

I note that you used Damascene on 25th January. I congratulate you on
using it on a most appropriate day as 25th January is the Feast of the
Conversion of St Paul, which, or course, occurred on the Damascene Road.

This reminded me of a dear pet that I lost a few months back... a spotted
white pigeon.

I spent some time in Dubai, where someone told me it was a damascene
pigeon. Though that didn't
turn out to be true (damascene pigeons are very rare and have striking
black patterns), the word stuck.

Chitralekha Yadav, Pune, India

From: Paul A. Foerster (foerster idworld.net)
Subject: damascene

The late Fr. Stanley Besuska, Professor of Mathematics at Boston
College, used to say that there is a patron saint of computers -- St. John
Damascene. Of course you have to use an alternate pronunciation, putting an
"h" sound in the last syllable to get the full pun value.

From: Alex Novak (agn2 psu.edu)
Subject: The Sybarite and the Rose Petal
Def: A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

This is one of my favorite words and has a wonderful (though likely
apocryphal) story. One elder Sybarite guest allegedly complained to his
host that he couldn't sleep at night because there was a rose petal under
his body (a la The Princess and the Pea). An alternative version has the
same Sybarite sleeping on a bed of rose petals, but with a single petal
folded over, leading to a restless night. Many thanks for another fun week.

The use of "gascon" to signify "braggart" may predate 1771, but the word
was never quite as popular as after one specific son of Gascony came to
public attention: d'Artagnan, the fourth of The Three Musketeers (1844).

Christopher St Clair, New York, New York

From: P.C. Chi (chi4pc gmail.com)
Subject: Another use of the word gascon

I found the word "gascon" extremely funny because in Taiwan "gascon" is
generally known as a synonym of a widely used medicine Simethicone.
It is used to reduce
bloating and discomfort caused by excess gas in the stomach or intestines.
"Gascon" seems to apply well to a puffed-up stomach and a puffed-up person,
too.

P.C. Chi, Taipei, Taiwan

From: Jenna Godwin (jasportsman gmail.com)
Subject: Gaston

Disney's Beauty and the Beast came
out when I was a little girl and I, like everyone else, was enchanted
with it. The only character I didn't love was boastful, obnoxious Gaston
whose name I thought was Gascon until I was about ten years old. I guess
my childhood mind knew I was linguist before I did!

Jenna Godwin, Littleton, Colorado

Email of the Week - (Brought to you by One Up! - Are you wicked/smart?)

From: Arthur Silverstein (arts jhmi.edu)
Subject: gascon

It should be pointed out that gascon is not really a Mediterranean word,
since Gascony is more an Atlantic or Biscayan area of southwest France.
The word is related to Basque, since that was the language spoken by their
ancestors during Roman times, the Aquitani. Gasconade
was given currency by the escapades of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Better would be Frank (from the Germanic tribe after whom France is named.
In the Eastern Mediterranean during Crusader times, Frank was the term used
for all Europeans, and it remains today as farangi to describe strangers or
foreigners.

Arthur Silverstein, Falmouth, Massachusetts

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a
stone. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)